(Editor's note: Students from Berlin -Brothersvalley Middle School provided the following letters for a school project)

May 10, 2004

President had good reasons

To the editor:

Countless times there have been articles about the war in Iraq. Many men and women go in to fight for our country. They wanted to serve our country. President Bush sent them to fight in Iraq for our safety.

I myself do not know why people criticize President Bush for sending troops to Iraq. I would like to see them in the President's shoes. He made his decision based on his best knowledge. People think that there wasn't enough information to go to war with Iraq. Should we have waited and not gone to war? None of us would want another 9/11. That is why people should open their eyes and see why President Bush sent troops to Iraq.

Alex Will,

Berlin student

Regulate windmills

To the editor:

I am writing about the hazards of windmills. Sure they produce a small amount of electricity, but there is also a lot of bad things about them. Anybody who lives close to one knows how much noise they make. Some people like them because they are on their property and they get paid for having them there, but they would not like it as much if they lived right underneath it.

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There are also a lot of bird and bat kills. Many bats get hit by the blades while they are chasing bugs, and their height is about the same level as many migrating birds who get hit by the windmill blades.

There are good places for windmills. For instance, you could put them in an old strip mine. The mountains are not a good place for them. Many tourists come to see the mountains of Pennsylvania, but if they are covered with windmills, who would want to see them? A few windmills are OK, but we need to take action so people do not build more windmills.

Chris Payne,

Berlin student

Helmets make sense

To the editor:

I think people who ride motorcycles should have to wear a helmet. The reason I think so is that a motorcycle is just like a car. When people ride motorcycles there aren't any seatbelts to hold you back if you are in a crash.

On a motorcycle if you crash you are going to fly off of it. Many accidents happen with them. People can get seriously injured or even killed.

So my point is I think it should be a law, so that people are more safe. They are not toys, they are vehicles.

Paul Bonus

Berlin student

Opposes windmills

To the editor:

I think that windmills are a bad idea because they are a hazard to birds and bats that get too close to the windmills. I think that because numerous amounts of birds and bats are killed by the vacuum that the windmills create by sucking the animals into the blades.

The next point I'd like to make is that the beautiful countryside is being littered with these big, noisy, machines. If we do not do something the whole hillside will be full of windmills.

We need to do something soon so the beautiful hillsides aren't destroyed forever. So let's do something to keep our hillsides the way they are: UNCHANGED.

T.J. Watkins

Berlin student

Doesn't need windmills

To the editor:

I think that we should get rid of some of the windmills because we already have a source of energy. All they do is take up our natural environment. They also affect it. They are brilliant and we can use some, but think about it, is it really necessary to take up our environment to make something we already have? There are a lot of animals in our environment. You wouldn't want someone to take your homes down. We can work together.